e-Newsletter for Holocaust Educators

Welcome to the fifth issue of Teaching the Legacy, the e-newsletter of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. This issue focuses on January 27th, the date recently recognized by the United Nations as an international day of commemoration to honor Holocaust victims, and legislated as Holocaust Remembrance Day in eighteen countries. The main article is an interview conducted with Dr. Doron Avraham on the ICHEIC Program for Holocaust Education in Europe at Yad Vashem. This issue contains two lesson plans, for lower and higher grades, on the subject of children in the Holocaust. The e-newsletter also includes a section of book reviews, as well as updates on recent events and new services in the “What’s New” sections. We hope you will find this newsletter of interest and we look forward to your feedback.

This issue features:

• Interview With Dr. Doron Avraham, Director of the ICHEIC program
• Ceremonies for Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27  
• Lesson Plans for Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27 
• Book Reviews
• What’s New at Yad Vashem?
• What’s New at the International School for Holocaust Studies?

Interview With Dr. Doron Avraham, Director of the ICHEIC program

The ICHEIC Program is a special project funded by ICHEIC (the International Committee for Holocaust Era Insurance Claims Humanitarian Fund) to encourage Holocaust education throughout Europe, to combat antisemitism, racism and xenophobia and to foster human rights awareness through Holocaust education.

Ceremonies for Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27

"Dear Diary, I Don't Want to Die". Ceremony for grades 10-12. One-and-a-half million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust, most of them with no one to perpetuate their memory or even their name. This ceremony focuses on the life of these children. It combines excerpts from the diaries of three children with poems and memoirs to create one representative story. For the ceremony, click here.

The Image of Humanity in the Shadow of Death. Ceremony for grades 7-9. This resource is designed to highlight responses of Jewish people trapped in the inhuman conditions within ghettos that had been created by Nazi Germany. Based on diaries and survivor testimonies, the voices of Jews who attempted to maintain their humanity in the face of unprecedented inhumanity will be highlighted. Many Jewish people in ghettos proved that the human spirit cannot be broken despite the most insurmountable circumstances. For the ceremony, click here.

Lesson Plans for Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27

The Lives of Jewish Children During the Holocaust As Reflected in Their Diaries. Lesson plan for grades 10-12. This lesson plan contains selected excerpts from the diaries of five children who lived and perished in the Holocaust. Through these diary entries, we will highlight some central stages many Jewish European children experienced: their pre-war existence; initial Nazi occupation; anti-Jewish decrees – the “badge of shame”, economic policies and disruption of schools; closure into ghettos or forced into hiding; daily life in the ghetto. For the lesson plan, click here.

Compassion within the Ghetto Walls. Lesson plan for grades 7-9. Trapped behind ghetto walls, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto suffered from starvation and the Nazi decrees designed to dehumanize them. Jews, however, found many ways to help each other through these difficult times. This lesson plan will highlight some of the organizations that were established to coordinate social welfare activities. For the lesson plan, click here.

Book Reviews

In this issue, we continue to present reviews of new books printed in Israel and abroad. These reviews are designed to expose readers to useful new publications that otherwise might remain unknown.

1. L’Album D’Auschwitz, Editions Al Dante/ Edition pour La Memoire de la Shoah, Paris 2005
2. Auschwitz-Prozess 4 ks 2/63. Frankfurt am Main. Edited by Irmtrud Wojak and the Fritz Bauer Institut Staff, Fritz Bauer Institut, Frankfurt a.M 2005

For the book reviews, click here.

The New Visual Center – In November 2006 Yad Vashem inaugurated the new Visual Center. The Center collects, catalogues and offers viewing facilities for Holocaust-related films of all genres. For more, click here.
“More Than Just a Job” - Farewell Interview with former Yad Vashem Director-General, Ishai Amrami. For more, click here.
“The Faces Behind the Names” – The Names Database: Since the Names Database went online in November 2004, over 900 photographs have been added to the existing collection of over 110,000. These are photographs that have been gathered at Yad Vashem over the years. For more on the Names Database, click here.
 

The International School for Holocaust studies continues to run a variety of programming and educational activities. In March 2005, the International School for Holocaust Studies inaugurated the ICHEIC Program for Holocaust Education in Europe. This program includes, among other activities, seminars for educators from many European countries. More information on the ICHEIC program is available in the newsletter and on this website. In the past few months the School hosted the first seminar of its kind for Croatian educators as well as for Czech educators. The School also recently hosted a group of Tutsi survivors of the Rwandan genocide for a seminar on the Holocaust. The educational staff put together an educational unit on Kristallnacht and the persecution of German Jewry. There is also a new special outreach program for Israeli students studying in Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Schools. Approximately three thousand 11th graders participated in the program, including 500 from the Arab sector.
For the full article, click here.

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